Prior art bill validators have been used for various kinds of bill handling machines such as vending machines, money exchangers and bill dispensers installed all over the world. As shown in FIG. 12, a prior art bill validator comprises a conveyer 3 for transporting a bill inserted from an inlet 33 along a passageway 34 to a stand-by position 36; an inlet sensor 30 mounted at a front end of passageway 34 for detecting bill inserted into inlet 33; a validation sensor 4 for detecting optical or magnetic pattern of bill moving through passageway 34 to produce detection signals; a stacking device 41 for stowing bill moved to the stand-by position 36 into an accumulation chamber 44; and a drive controller 2 for receiving detection signals from validation sensor 4, validating authenticity of bill and providing conveyer 3 and stacking device 41 with drive signals. Validation sensor 4 includes a magnetic sensor 22 such as magnetic head or Hall element for discerning magnetic characteristics on bill transported along passageway 34, and an optical sensor 21 such as photo-coupler for discerning optical characteristics on or through bill. Drive controller 2 receives detection signals from validation sensor 4 and examines authenticity of bill and decides a genuine or false bill based on the received detection signals. Passageway 34 includes a generally horizontal validation path 34a connected to inlet 33 at one end thereof; an arcuate path 35 having an upper end connected to the opposite end of validation path 34a from inlet 33; and the stand-by position 36 connected to a lower end of arcuate path 35. Arcuate path 35 serves to divert passageway 34 substantially an angle of 180 degrees to transport bill to stand-by position 36 positioned under and in parallel to validation path 34a. 
As shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, a convey stacker 43 comprises a convey motor 25; a pinion 70 mounted on an output shaft of convey motor 25; a first gear 71 in mesh with pinion 70; a second gear 72 mounted on a common rotation shaft for first gear 71; a third gear 73 engaged with second gear 72; a fourth gear 74 mounted on a common rotation shaft for third gear 73; a fifth gear 75 mating with fourth gear 74; a sixth gear 76 mounted on a common rotation shaft for fifth gear 75; a seventh gear 77 in engagement with sixth gear 76; a eighth gear 78 mounted on a common rotation shaft for seventh gear 77; a ninth gear 79 interlocking with eighth gear 78; a tenth gear 80 mounted on a common rotation shaft for ninth gear 79; and a eleventh gear 81 meshing with tenth gear 80. Eleventh gear 81 is mounted on a common rotation shaft for a convey roller 32 which is rotatable along arcuate path 35. As shown in FIG. 13, two rubber rings 32a are wound in parallel to each other around an outer cylindrical surface of convey roller 32 to transmit rotational force to bill through rubber rings 32a in order to smoothly convey bill along arcuate path 35.
As shown in FIG. 15, eleventh gear 81 is provided with a drive belt pulley 84, and a drive belt 83 is wound around drive belt pulley 84 and some idle belt pulleys. A driven belt pulley 84 is mounted on a common rotation shaft for a convey belt pulley 26 around which a belt 27 is wound.
As shown in FIG. 14, attached to tenth gear 80 is a crank plate 55 which supports a pin 56 secured in an eccentric position on crank plate 55 to rotatably connect one end of a connecting rod 57 to pin 56. The other end of connecting rod 57 is rotatably connected to a shaft 59 located in an elongated opening 58 formed on frame wall; shaft 59 is rotatably received in a hole formed at an end of a first link 60; and the other end of first link 60 is pivotally connected to a push plate 40 through a pin 61. A pin 62 rotatably connects each intermediate portion of first and second links 60 and 63; one end of second link 63 is rotatably attached to frame wall by a pin 64; the other end of second link 63 is rotatably and slidably attached to push plate 40. With rotation of crank plate 55, the other end of connecting rod 57 performs reciprocal movement together with shaft 59 within elongated opening 58; reciprocal movement of shaft 59 causes telescopic movement of first and second links 60 and 63 to move push plate 40 toward and away from accumulation chamber 44 of stacking device 41. Convey motor 25 is electrically connected to drive controller 2 which rotates convey motor 25 in the adverse direction to rotate crank plate 55 when drive controller 2 decides bill as genuine, and rotation of crank plate 55 causes extension of first and second links 60 and 63 to move push plate 40 downward and stow bill by push plate 40 into accumulation chamber 44 of stacking device 41. Not shown but, as crank plate 55 is mounted on tenth gear 80 through a uni-directional or one-way clutch, it is not rotated during the forward rotation of convey motor 25. Accordingly, only when convey motor 25 is rotated in the adverse direction, crank plate 55 is rotated to move push plate 40 between the original or retracted and extended positions.
Bill is transported to the stand-by position 36, and a holder 47 retained in the horizontal condition serves to temporarily support a rear end of bill substantially in the horizontal condition as shown by solid line in FIG. 12. Then, bill in the stand-by position 36 is put into accumulation chamber 44 of stacking device 41 when push plate 40 is moved downward. At that time, holder 47 is rotated downward by a rear end of bill put into accumulation chamber 44 so that rear end of bill is curved or deflected to override holder 47 and move under holder 47. In this way, pushed bill certainly is moved under holder 47 not to prevent entry of a next bill to the stand-by position 36 by the sticking rear end of stacked bill and to avoid jamming of bill by the next bill. Rotatably mounted is a lever 46 which is resiliently urged and retained to the horizontal position by a spring 49 so that passage of bill causes lever 46 to rotate against resilient force of tension spring 49 and allow passage of bill. Provided under convey device 3 is stacking device 41 for storing bills to sandwich the stand-by position 36 between convey device 3 and stacking device 41.
In operation of the bill validator, when bill is inserted into inlet 33, inlet sensor 30 detects bill to produce a detection signal to the drive controller 2. Then, convey motor 25 is rotated in the forward direction to drive convey belt 27 through drive belt 83 so that bill is inwardly transported along validation path 34a. At this time, validation sensor 4 converts magnetic and optical feature of bill into electric signals to drive controller 2 which then examines and decides a genuine or false bill based on the received detection signals. When drive controller 2 does not decide bill as genuine, it provides convey motor 25 with inverted signals in the way of conveyance to drive convey belt 27 in the adverse direction and thereby return bill from validation path 34a to inlet 33. On the contrary, when drive controller 2 decides bill as genuine, it continuously rotates convey motor 25 in the forward direction to transport bill along arcuate path 35 to the stand-by position 36. At the moment, both sides of bill are supported on a pair of opposite side ribs 37 shown in FIG. 16, and rear end of bill is supported on holder 47, but push plate 40 is kept in the original position above the stand-by position 36. Then, drive controller 2 rotates convey motor 25 in the adverse direction to rotate crank plate 55. This causes first and second links 60 and 63 to extend as shown in FIG. 14 so that push plate 40 is moved into accumulation chamber 44 of stacking device 41 to stow bill retained in the stand-by position 36 in accumulation chamber 44 of stacking device 41. When push plate 40 crams bill through an opening 39 formed between side ribs 37 into accumulation chamber 44, holder 47 is rotated downward from the horizontal position to a certain angle against elastic force of tension spring 49. When bill overrides and moves away from holder 47, it is returned to the original horizontal position by elastic force of tension spring 48. Thereafter, when convey motor 25 is rotated in the adverse direction to rotate crank plate 55 an angle of nearly 360 degrees, first and second links 60 and 63 are retracted to return push plate 40 from the stand-by position to the upper original position.
In this way, when bill in the stand-by position is squeezed downward into accumulation chamber 44, lever 46 is rotated downward by rear end of pushed bill, and rear end of bill is curved or deflected to pass over and move under lever 46. In that way, reliable stowage of pushed bill under lever 46 allows a next bill to smoothly enter the stand-by position 36 without barring entrance of subsequent bill into the stand-by position 36 by sticking out rear end of bill that results in jamming of the subsequent bill. FIG. 17 shows an appearance of the bill validator.
By the way, prior art bill validators are defective in consuming a large amount of electric power because they always require continuously running current even during the inoperative period of validators. Therefore, prior art bill validators are unavailable without commercial power supply. Otherwise, although batteries are provided in validators, more frequently batteries have to be exchanged for new ones or charged due to the large consumption power, and therefore, a bill validator of power saving type has still been required.
An object of the present invention is to provide a device for discriminating valuable papers capable of reducing power consumption by automatically switching it from the active to the inactive condition during the inoperative period.